[lbo-talk] Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela

Marta Russell ap888 at lafn.org
Sun Mar 2 10:47:05 PST 2008


Thanks for this report Julio. It was only a matter of time before Bush turned his attention and the military to South America. Marta

On Mar 2, 2008, at 8:55 AM, Julio Huato wrote:


> There's little about this on the U.S. media, but we should be paying
> some attention:
>
> A very volatile situation is now in progress in northern South
> America, involving Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela.
>
> Yesterday, in the wee hours of the morning, the Colombian air force
> bombed to shreds a group of FARC guerrillas sleeping at an improvised
> riky-dinky camp on the Ecuador side of the border (south of the
> Putumayo river). Raul Reyes, second in command of the FARC, along
> with other 15 (or so) guerrilla fighters were killed in the raid. The
> evidence (photos published by the Colombian press and reports of an
> investigation conducted by Ecuador) indicates they were killed while
> sleeping.
>
> Reyes was the FARC's chief negotiator in the release of prisoners deal
> that got some recent attention in the media. Even Sarkozy was happy
> about the way these negotiations, mediated by Chavez, had evolved.
> Uribe was in a very uncomfortable position, since the release of
> prisoners by the FARC was putting him on the spot to deal with the
> guerrillas and, perhaps, even start peace negotiations with them. The
> military and the U.S. were opposed to dealing with "terrorists."
>
> Uribe called Correa later in the morning and told him that the initial
> bombing had taken place on the Colombian side and that, then, the
> guerrillas had crossed the border, all while responding to the attack
> with fire. So the Colombian army persecuted them and "in the heat" of
> the battle, they either crossed the border or from the Colombian side
> of the government shot at them (while the guerrillas were on the
> Ecuador side) and killed them. Only one Colombian soldier was
> reported killed.
>
> Yesterday, during the day, Uribe and the Colombian military gave press
> conferences, smiling faces, full of glee, congratulating themselves
> for the feat. Yesterday morning, Correa said on national TV that he
> had been informed by Uribe of the event and immediately ordered an
> investigation. He sounded prudent. No criticism of Colombia. Later
> in the day (or this morning, it's not clear to me), Correa appeared in
> national TV in Ecuador and reported on the results of the
> investigation.
>
> This time Correa was clearly angry at Uribe. The investigation showed
> that the camp was on the Ecuador side (2 miles far from the river, the
> unmistakable border). They found two wounded guerrilla fighters (in
> pajamas or underwear), the bodies of other guerrillas were left there.
> (The Colombian military took some of the bodies and dragged them
> along.) Correa called it a "massacre."
>
> Correa says it was a violation of the national sovereignity, recalled
> his ambassador in Colombia, and demanded a clear explanation and
> apologies from Uribe. Correa insinuated that Colombia's attack had
> the logistic support of the U.S. (I suppose, he was referring to the
> air technology required for precision identification of targets and
> bombing). He didn't refer to the U.S. by name -- he just alluded to
> "likely support from a foreign power."
>
> Correa says Uribe either was misinformed (and should say it) or lied
> to him outright. Correa said that Ecuador will respond appropriately
> (and will go "all the way") if their demands of an apology are not
> met, which I take it as meaning that they will bring the case to the
> international court. In turn, in Caracas, Chavez gave a press
> conference and warned Uribe that doing the same on Venezuelan
> territory would be casus belli. Chavez said he and Correa talked and
> crossed information.
>
> I don't know who's currently in charge of Latin America at the State
> Department, but it must be people of the same type as Roger Noriega
> and Otto Reich. Why did Uribe/the U.S. ordered this attack in
> violation of -- as Chavez puts it -- "a host of international laws"?
> Are they deliberately creating a mess there to dump on the lap of
> whoever wins the presidency? Is this their plan to destabilize a
> leftward shifting South America? Frankly, this doesn't seem
> accidental to me. It had to be vetted by Uribe and, almost surely, by
> Washington.
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